Sudan paramilitaries agree to mediators' truce proposal

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the regular army for more than two years, announced on Thursday that they had agreed to a proposal for a humanitarian truce put forward by mediators.

The announcement follows the paramilitaries' capture of the major city of El-Fasher, which dislodged the army from its last stronghold in the vast western Darfur region.

They have since been accused of mass killings, looting, and sexual violence there, and have in recent days appeared to turn their focus to the neighbouring Kordofan region, where fierce battles are underway.

"In response to the aspirations and interests of the Sudanese people, the Rapid Support Forces affirms its agreement to enter into the humanitarian truce proposed by the Quad countries," the RSF said in a statement, referring to the United States, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The military-aligned government did not immediately comment on the RSF's announcement.

Earlier in the day, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had said his forces were still "striving for the defeat of the enemy".

"Soon, we will avenge those who have been killed and abused... in all the regions attacked by the rebels," he said, in a televised address.

The government had indicated earlier this week that it would press on with the war following an internal meeting on a ceasefire proposal.

A senior Saudi official told AFP on Thursday that the mediators' plan outlined a "three-month humanitarian truce in all Sudan".

During the ceasefire, efforts would be made to bring the RSF and army together for talks in Jeddah on a permanent peace deal, he added, without offering further details.

In its statement, the RSF said the ceasefire was needed "to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war and to enhance the protection of civilians", as well as to "ensure the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance".

The paramilitaries have been accused of committing widespread atrocities after seizing El-Fasher following an 18-month siege marked by starvation and bombardments.

Mass graves

Yale researchers reported new satellite imagery on Thursday that showed activity "consistent with mass graves" being dug in the city of El-Fasher.

The report identified "at least two earth disturbances consistent with mass graves at a mosque and the former Children's Hospital".

It also noted the appearance of metres-long trenches, as well as the disappearance of clusters of objects consistent with bodies near the hospital, the mosque and other parts of the city -- indicating that bodies deposited around those areas were later moved.

"Body disposal or removal was also observed at Al-Saudi Hospital in satellite imagery," the report said.

The World Health Organization had reported the "tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff" at that hospital during the city's takeover.

The UN Human Rights Council announced Thursday that it would hold an urgent session on the situation in El-Fasher next week.

The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.

The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.

Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities over the course of the war.

Since El-Fasher's fall, fighting has spread to the Kordofan region, where an attack on a funeral in the city of El-Obeid killed 40 people in recent days, according to the UN.

El-Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state, is a logistics and command hub that links Darfur to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The RSF claimed control of Bara, a North Kordofan city near El-Obeid, last week.

The conflict in Sudan, raging since April 2023, has pitted the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against those of his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

It has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions more and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis, according to the UN.